Letter to the Editor: Fannon Should Not Be Re-elected

I have met City Councilman Frank Fannon and he is a nice guy. Unfortunately, he should not be taking up one of just six precious seats on our City Council.  Frank actively opposes the interests of the people of Alexandria and should not be re-elected.

While there are many, I offer three reasons.

First, Frank has opposed funding needed to build and maintain the public schools we need.

Second, Frank actually called for cutting a million dollars from our education budget in order to spend more money for the Alexandria Pipe and Drum Corps.  No offense to the corps, but children should be our community’s highest priority. 

Third, even though Alexandrians had long been united in their desire to see the Mirant/GenOn plant close as quickly as possible, as late as March 2011 Fannon was quoted in the Alexandria Times as saying the plant should close “on its own terms.”

Frank knows he is in trouble. That’s why he is pretending to be a Democrat in his run for re-election. Not only does he avoid mentioning he’s a Republican on his signs and in his television ad, he even tries to leave the impression in his television ad that he supports the president.

Frank is trying to pull the wool over our eyes to avoid responsibility for what he’s done on Council. Let’s show him that won’t work. When you vote for City Council, make a point of voting for real Democrats who truly care about our kids and our environment.

Vote for John Taylor Chapman, Tim Lovain, Del Pepper, Allison Silberberg, Paul Smedberg and Justin Wilson. One more thing, while you are there, make sure you vote for our outstanding mayor, Bill Euille!

Then, make sure to flip the ballot over and vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Tim Kaine, Jim Moran and, regarding the constitutional amendments, please vote No on 1 and Yes on 2.

Paul A. Friedman